Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Brooks Brothers steaks out new business

BROOKS BROTHERS, clothier of choice for upscale professional men for 195 years, apparently has designs on breaking into a new line of work. Steve Cuozzo of The New York Post reported on Monday that “the famed American apparel chain aims to open a 15,000 square-foot eatery next summer at 11 E. 44th St., around the corner from its 346 Madison Ave. flagship.

“Brooks Brothers has never been in the restaurant business. But the currently vacant venue, which the company previously used for its women’s line, is to be the prototype for what sources said would be a nationwide rollout of Makers and Merchants eateries.”

It’s early yet; development plans haven’t even been filed with the New York City Buildings Department or — the really important threshold — the State Liquor Authority. But some parts of the concept are farther along than others.

We recently obtained a photo of a test version of part of a menu being considered for the restaurant. It’s not finalized, of course, but if the first draft is an indication of what’s to come, fans of steak and Brooks Brothers’ classic mens’ wear styles should find much to celebrate:

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A veteran journalist, producer and blogger, Michael Eric Ross is a frequent contributor to the content channels of Jerrick Media, and a periodic contributor to TheWrap, a major online source of entertainment news and analysis. He writes from Los Angeles on the arts, politics, race and ethnicity, and pop culture. A graduate of the University of Colorado, he's worked as a reporter, editor and critic at several newspapers and websites, including The New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, the San Jose Mercury News, MSN, Current and NBCNews.com. He was formerly an adjunct professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. His writing has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Wired, Entertainment Weekly, PopMatters, Salon, The Root, seattlepi.com, NPR.com, theGrio, BuzzFeed, Medium and other publications. Author of the novel Flagpole Days (2003); and essay collections Interesting Times (2004) and American Bandwidth (2009), he contributed to the anthologies MultiAmerica (edited by Ishmael Reed, 1997) and Soul Food (2000).